Luther Versus Kieran

"Die."

Kieran fired a wind blade at Asher with the speed of a peak rank third-stage Guardian mage. Even though it was weaker compared to his true strength, Kieran was confident in his abilities.

Asher sloppily retreated and managed to dodge the attack just narrowly by a heartbeat. From a distance, it looked as if he had done so by luck and even Kieran thought the same.

"It doesn't matter. On the contrary, it's good you dodged it. Who knows, you might have died from it. Haha."

Seeing as he couldn't catch up to Kieran, Luther frowned and cast different spells at Kieran, forcing him to either dodge or block them, which in turn slowed him down. Even so, by the time Luther was just five metres away, Kieran had already approached the fortress.

"You're not going anywhere." Luther said.

"So stubborn." Kieran grunted as he turned around and clashed with Luther once again.

Clang.

This time around, the duo didn't fight with their fists but pulled out weapons. Kieran used a short sword that had been hidden within his cloak whereas Luther was using a dagger that was quite long; almost the same size as the forearm of an adult.

"Why surrender yourself to the hands of these silly nobles? A man of your strength should be capable of achieving more. Join me and pursue true freedom." Kieran said.

"Since when was a life of banditry synonymous with true freedom." Luther mocked.

"Since you don't want to learn, I don't mind killing you."

The two resumed their battle once again with intense vigor.

For every strike Kieran made, Luther would find a way to block and counter it. At the same time, Kieran was somehow able to predict most of Luther's attacks and for the ones he failed to do, he would move his body slightly, just enough to avoid getting injured and escaping with a scratch.

'Evenly matched? No. Luther is still holding back.' Asher thought.

Asher wasn't just referring to the fact that Luther was fighting with only the physical strength of a peak third-stage Guardian mage but also the fact that Luther had refrained from using some of his skills and techniques in this fight.

'Even so, this bandit leader is quite impressive. His skills show that he's more than just a bandit. It could be because of his past status or because he was trained like this. If it's the latter, then it has to be the red organization. Just who are they?' Asher frowned.

The existence of the hidden organization hunting him down, the royals that were slowly losing their patience, and now this red organization. It was almost as if Asher was attracting new loads of trouble and powerful opponents without even trying.

"Luther, wrap this up fast." Asher communicated via mental power.

The other mages in the battle area were already finishing up their battles. Even with the number advantage, the bandits were still not their match. The same held true for the battles between the elites.

Aaron had already killed Viper but had left Long alive, albeit crippled, after Asher had instructed him to do so. Although Savia had yet to defeat Tarik, he was dominating the battle and held the upper hand. While it wasn't to the point where he was completely suppressing Tarik, Savia controlled the tempo of the battle to the point that unless he willed it, Tarik could not escape.

With Neto and another captain-level figure in their lineup, the mages were able to defeat the bandits with ease, to the point that there was no heavy injury inflicted on any of their numbers. Even the light injuries -which were mostly in form of a slight scraping, stabbing, or burn mark- had only been inflicted on four of the mages who were the weakest of the group.

With Asher giving the command, Luther stopped holding back and unleashed his full power with a slash of the dagger.

'Huh?' Kieran noticed something was off about the move but couldn't put his finger around it.

Clang.

The dagger was blocked by Kieran's short sword but had managed to send him back. It was an unexpected move and he had reacted to it wrongly, pushing him off his composure.

"You were-"

Kieran had to cut his words short as he prepared for the follow-up attack.

Luther cast a few spells at Kieran before charging up to close the gap. With Luther now fighting with another level of power, Kieran found it difficult to keep up. He was forced to reveal his true strength but even when he did so, Kieran was still being suppressed.

'How? How come I'm still losing?' Kieran was confused as he blocked another slash from Luther but got struck in the face by a punch from Luther's freehand.

Angered, Kieran stood his ground and cast a spell, prepared to attack Luther.

Bam.

"Argh-"

Kieran got interrupted mid-chanting by Luther who refused to give him any breathing space.

"You…!!" Kieran roared and pointed a finger at Luther.

A metallic beam shot out from his finger towards Luther.

Luther was stunned as he never expected Kieran to possess such a skill.

The attack heading towards him, although hurried, was a spell of the metal element, one of the most powerful elements based on offensive strength. What was surprising was that Kieran could use such a spell since, according to the information they had on him and what they had seen, Kieran was a wind element mage.

'Luckily, I took the young master's advice.' Luther thought as when it looked like he would fall to the attack, he abruptly dodged at the last moment.

"Nani?!" Kieran widened his eyes in shock.

While he was previously shocked by the fact that despite going all out and showing his true strength, Luther was somehow prepared for it, the shock he felt now was on a different level. Kieran thought that Luther had gone all out already but it was almost as if Luther was aware of all his trump cards which were impossible.

Concerning Luther's awareness regarding his true strength, Kieran could attribute it to one of the bandit leaders being a spy too, and having informed Luther and his group, after all, Kieran had previously revealed his true strength to them the previous day. He could even presume that Luther had some special artefact for identifying his power. If one recalls that mages in the stages below the Heroic stage constantly leak mana from their body, then it would be reasonable for there to be not only artefacts to track such mages but also measure their power based on the mana quantity and quality they 'leak'.

With all this said, there was justification to explain why Luther wasn't caught unaware by Kieran's strength reveal. However, the same couldn't be said about the element factor. Ever since he left the red organization and came to this lawless region, Kieran had never used his metal element except in utmost secrecy, to be constantly familiar with its usage.

If someone had told him that an individual in this backwater region knew his true strength, Kieran would have laughed it off. But now, there was someone like that before him.

While Kieran was stunned, Luther waved a hand at him, unleashing a small wave of blue frigid water at him. The wave suddenly divided into three smaller waves which compressed to form three crescent water blades.

Kieran scrambled to defend against the attacks but it gave Luther enough time to close the gap once again.

Even though it was only his mana that was suppressed and he could cover that up with the difference in skill, this was only in the physical department. If Luther left the battle's tempo in the hands of Kieran and tried to contend using magic, there was a chance that he would lose. But, if he turned it into a close-quarters fight, Kieran's defeat would be inevitable.

"Your loss."